Conventionally, an inkjet printer comprises a color inkjet head having a plurality of inkjet nozzles, reciprocating the inkjet head in a parallel direction to a printing direction to provide inkjet color printing on various sizes of papers.
For instance, Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2002-234188 (Patent Document 1) discloses an inkjet printer having a carriage installed with an inkjet head and capable of moving the carriage from side to side to form various images on recording papers fed by a feeding roller with ink discharged in a downward jet from the inkjet head.
The inkjet printer disclosed in the Patent Document 1 comprises an ink tray for receiving the ink discharged from the head for a flushing, in a right end of a platen facing to the head. Therefore, at the flushing in starting printing and during printing, the head is moved to a maintenance position for performing the flushing when needed.
Furthermore, variety of techniques for printing patterns and designs on various clothes has been suggested. An inkjet printer capable of printing the patterns and the designs on surfaces of the clothes with the color ink directed in a jet from the ink nozzle to the clothes based on print data has been suggested.
For instance, Japanese patent application laid-open No. H05(1993)-84887 (Patent Document 2) discloses a printer in which a Y movable bar in such a manner that it can move in Y direction along a groove formed on both side faces of a machine frame of U-shape in top view. An X movable arm is supported to be movable along the Y movable bar, and an ink head is fixed on an end of the X movable bar. A holding frame holding a cloth for printing is fixedly mounted on a table provided in a center of the machine frame. In this case, the ink head performs printing on a fixed cloth while moving in X and Y directions.
In the inkjet printer disclosed in the Patent Document 1, however, the ink tray for the flushing is positioned outside the printable area, and in a flushing position specifically for the flushing positioned opposite to a right end of the platen. Therefore, there are problems that a length of the printer in a printing direction becomes longer, resulting in a large printer.
As well as in the printer disclosed in the Patent Document 2, the ink tray for the flushing is provided on the outside of the holding frame so that the cloth held by the holding frame become dirty. Therefore, there are problems that the moving distance of the ink head is longer, and the printer is larger.